"Good-bye, you fellows! God bless you!" he cried, as a negro pulled at
his camel's nose-ring and made him follow the others. The women came
after him, in a misery too deep for words. Their departure was a relief
to the three men who were left.

"I am glad they are gone," said Stephens, from his heart.

"Yes, yes, it is better," cried Fardet. "How long are we to wait?"

"Not very long now," said Belmont, grimly, as the Arabs closed in around
them.

The Colonel and the three women gave one backward glance when they came
to the edge of the oasis. Between the straight stems of the palms they
saw the gleam of the fire, and above the group of Arabs they caught a
last glimpse of the three white hats. An instant later, the camels began
to trot, and when they looked back once more the palm grove was only a
black clump with the vague twinkle of a light somewhere in the heart of
it. As with yearning eyes they gazed at that throbbing red point in the
darkness, they passed over the edge of the depression, and in an instant
the huge, silent, moonlit desert was round them without a sign of the
oasis which they had left. On every side the velvet, blue-black sky,
with its blazing stars, sloped downwards to the vast, dun-coloured
plain. The two were blurred into one at their point of junction.

The women had sat in the silence of despair, and the Colonel had been
silent also--for what could he say?--but suddenly all four started in
their saddles, and Sadie gave a sharp cry of dismay. In the hush of the
night there had come from behind them the petulant crack of a rifle,
then another, then several together, with a brisk rat-tat-tat, and then,
after an interval, one more.

"It may be the rescuers! It may be the Egyptians!" cried Mrs. Belmont,
with a sudden flicker of hope. "Colonel Cochrane, don't you think it may
be the Egyptians?"

"Yes, yes," Sadie whimpered. "It must be the Egyptians."

The Colonel had listened expectantly, but all was silent again. Then he
took his hat off with a solemn gesture.

"There is no use deceiving ourselves, Mrs. Belmont," said he; "we may
as well face the truth. Our friends are gone from us, but they have met
their end like brave men."

"But why should they fire their guns? They had---- they had spears." She
shuddered as she said it.

"That is true," said the Colonel. "I would not for the world take away
any real grounds of hope which you may have; but, on the other hand,
there is no use in